I LOVED THIS BOOK 🥹 it’s my first Casey McQuiston book and my god, what a showstopper to start with! I obviously got good vibes when I spotted this on Netgalley, which is why I requested it, but I definitely did not realise how much I would adore it.

The writing was impeccable: with just one book, Casey has catapulted into my list of authors whose writing style works just perfectly for me. The words ebbed and flowed like a silky smooth river winding through my brain and it was just an absolute delight to get lost in the pages.

Theo and Kit, our extremely likeable protagonists are honestly the most interesting characters I’ve been introduced to for a long time. I was fascinated by not just their relationship, but each of them as individuals and their separate journeys in life that ultimately led them together and back together years later. I was truly swept off my feet and buckled into the rollercoaster ride with these two - I had to remind myself multiple times that these were (sadly) not real people, they just felt incredibly authentic to me.

Honestly, a big draw of this story for me was the mouth-watering food sommelier Theo and pastry chef Kit continuously ate 🤤 this book made me frequently ravenous! I know it’s fictional but I need to attend this 3 week trip around Italy and France eating all of the stunning food please.

There is so much to enjoy from this story: the tender romance, the spine-tingling chemistry, the rivalry and jealousy, the extraordinary side characters, the beautiful imagery, the emotional history and of course the delicious treats. The Pairing was a pleasure to sink my teeth into and I will be purchasing every other book this author has ever written.

Thank you Pan Macmillan & Netgalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Casey has done it again! A beautiful second chance romance about two childhood friends & ex partners that were (and still are) deeply in love with each other who reconnect on a European tour they were supposed to take together. The trip starts off with a competition to see who can hook up with the most people, but they inevitably find themselves drawn back to each other, even if they are not quite sure if the other feels the same.

I absolutely adored both Kit and Theo, they only ever had each others best interests at heart. The way the dual POV is written is a breath of fresh air. Usually we see alternating chapter POVs. However here the first half of the book focuses on Theo and then effortlessly switches to Kit. Not having both sides at the same time meant that you got to learn more about each character and really see themselves and their feelings towards the other develop throughout the trip.

I loved the chapters being the different places they were visiting accompanied with the food and drink pairing which had the most significance to the events to come.

I expected nothing less than a romance that really tugs at your heartstrings and I’m so glad it held up 💕

Thank you @netgalley and @panmacmillan for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I know it's only July, but this has to be the biggest disappointment of the year. I love Casey McQuiston and I was so looking forward to this book, so when I got an ARCI was over the moon. But the feeling stopped when I started to read.

The main characters are a disaster. But not a disaster haha. Just a disaster. They are both 28, behaving like 18, and just... No.

Most of the book goes like this - they travel, they eat, they hook up with someone while pinning for each other. It's a second chance romance, so I wanted to see more chemistry between them. And all I got was really that they were horny for each other and basically for everyone else who was willing to give them a good time.

I have to admit I skipped most of the spicy stuff, even between Theo and Kit.

And then they finally, finally got together I felt... Absolutely nothing. No joy, no excitement. I mean, good for them that they sorted our their shit.

I think the worst thing that can happen to a book is characters that are meh. Two Nepo babies who have to different views how to use their family's money. I really wished I had problems like that.

I didn't connect to Theo or Kit. We are nearly thr same age, and nothing. I love to bake, but that's that.

I have to say that I did like how Theo was written about their gender and possibly ADHD? In general, the writing was good, there were some quotes that I LOVED. But I feel it was wasted in this book.

I am giving it three stars, because of my sympathy to the author. Otherwise it would have been two.

Huge thank you to NetGalley, Casey McQuiston, and Pan Macmillan for a galley of this in exchange for an honest review. I am a huge Casey McQuistion fan, Red, White & Royal Blue is one of my all time favourites, it is just so feel good, and yet so emotionally impactful. The Pairing is absolutely in the same vein. If you loved the letters in R,W&RB you will adore this book!

The Pairing follows childhood-best-friends-turned-lovers-turned-exes Theo and Kit, as they find themselves, quite by accident, on the same European food and wine tour after 4 years apart. Theo has turned their life around, and is desperate for Kit to see all the positive, totally-on-top-of-things virtues of the new and improved Theo, and not see the same bad habits! Kit, on the other hand, seems to have actually landed on his feet, living a new, amorous, wildly successful life in Paris... or is he? Across the book both learn how much, and how little, the other has changed. Set across France, Spain, and Italy, and filled with food, wine, art, architecture, and a whole bunch of European hotties, The Pairing asks 'can you grow apart, and together?' A delicious queer romp through Europe, that will make you laugh, and might also make you cry, The Pairing is the perfect summer read.

McQuiston is perhaps one of the most lushly descriptive authors I have ever encountered. It is rare in a contemporary romance novel to feel like the world being built is so extraordinarily beyond our own, and yet the detail and feeling McQuiston imbues these locations with is almost fantastical. I suspect this will be especially true for a North American audience, who have less access to the art, architecture, and culture of Europe, but even as someone who has travelled throughout Europe many times, McQuiston blew me away. All of the settings are exceptionally drawn, and populated with fully fleshed characters. The artwork mentioned throughout is handled with tremendous respect, as is the food and wine. I cannot fathom the amount of research needed to build two POV characters, both with such personal love and genuine expertise, and have them both feel so real and so knowledgeable. If you have never been to France, Spain, or Italy, this book is enough to make you want to book a flight, it is a love letter to European culture, and a beautifully penned one at that.

The Pairing was a delight to read, filled with humour and emotion, a few antics, and a lot of feelings! I will say this is far and away one of the most sex-focused books I've ever read, (and I've read two published by Mills & Boon this year,) but perhaps not in the way you're thinking! I'd say this is a very sex positive book, and we touch on both character's personal kinks / pleasure, their relationship together, and their relationship with other people. If you are someone who much prefers closed door romance, with little-to-no discussion of sex, this might not be for you. I think I would described it not as 'smutty' but as deeply and purposefully 'sexy.'

The only thing that holds it back from the full 5 stars, for me, is that I think it went on a little too long. I loved the description, I loved the self-imposed slow-burn of Kit and Theo's second-chance-romance, but the 'emotional convo / sex / explore a beautiful country drink loads and look at art / emotional convo / sex' etc. cycle did feel like it lost some momentum about 3/4 of the way through. The last 1/4 was great, but that 3rd one really lagged for me.

Overall, one of the best romances I have read in a long time. Entirely absorbing, heart-breaking, heart-mending, and filled with wanderlust. 4.5 stars.

I have mixed feelings about this book, but I think it ultimately boils down to this: it was too long, there were too many repetitions (bound to happen when each chapter is a stop on the food and wine tour), and although the food and wine (and scenery and art) descriptions were lovely, I also sometimes skimmed them, because they were so long and detailed.

For a wine drinker/lover, it's probably great, for someone who doesn't drink, those parts of the story just didn't interest me.

As this is a book which is being released under St Martin's Press in the US I will be witholding my review until the boycott has ended.

As with Casey McQuiston’s other books, I knew going into this one that I was in for a treat, and I was NOT disappointed. I loved the overall food and wine theme and found the culinary hints throughout to be really interesting, alongside exes forced to tour together and the different people on the tour from around the world. I loved the drama of the challenge our main protagonists had with each other, and although it did take over quite a lot of the book, I feel like the drama worked really well and provided a great foundation alongside the food. I would recommend this to any fans of rom-coms but definitely don’t go into this on an empty stomach! ;)

i've read and enjoyed casey's other books. it took me a while to get into this one, wasn't hooked on the characters at first, but i looooved the descriptions of the places

Casey McQuiston does it again with another heart warming and romantic story, perfect as an upcoming summer read.

3.75/5 Stars

I was very looking forward to reading Casey McQuiston's new book and I'm so glad I got the chance to do so in advance. Theo and Kit's story is told through the different stops of their European food and wine tour, which was honestly such a joy to read about. Every city and town is described with its own specific vibe and I so appreciated the food/wine elements included since they added a lot to the book, were perfectly interwoven into the storyline and were just great to read if you're a foodie.

The growth these main characters went through was palpable from the pages and it truly transpired in the events described in the book. I especially appreciated how both Theo and Kit made an effort to actually communicate and talked through things that abruptly happened in the past and were never resolved before.

I would describe this as a great Sume read that features a second-chance romance with actual build-up (and teasing), accurate food elements and beautiful sightseeing moments and if you're into those you should definitely pick this up!

So, this sounded really good?

It was hot. It was completely devoid from reality. It was try to do something clever and failed. But it was really hot. Sometimes after an author has a successful book you find that their books get longer. They don't necessarily get better, but they definitely get longer. Look at the Harry Potter series. This book should have been at least 30% shorter.

The main characters are both kinda problematic for different reasons and instead of working on themselves are apparently going to just continue to be co-dependent. The book felt like it was trying to redefine the bisexual slut, and be sex-positive, when one of the characters doesn't really have a healthy relationship with sex AT ALL (it's hard not to spoil, but there are comments about using it to not be alone which is... not healthy). (and as a side note: what kind of slut that sleeps with people with penises isn't carrying condoms with them all the time? as a bisexual slut I can tell you I do, it's only practical! even if you're not looking for penetration, they have other safe-sex related uses!)

It reads like a teenager that's just discovered this new shiny author (you know, Vonnegut or Plath or Kerouac) and it's the most serious thing in the world, but you wouldn't understand because no one has ever been so seen or understood, mum, no one gets me, i'm going to my room, etc, etc. Or an American that's watched too many films about Western Europe.

Honestly, it would be lower but it was pretty hot.

I have loved all of this authors books and yes this book again did not disappoint!! Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this book.

this book is just not it, there was so much potential but it boiled down to shallow entitled ANNOYING characters ??? why anyone would think a “who can have more sex this summer” competition with their ex is a good idea is beyond me and tbh (to me) this book just perpetuated the idea that all bisexuals are just sex craved lunatics ???

This story was exactly what I needed, two exes who end up on the same food & wine tour who join a competition to prove how over each other they are! The Angst! Loved this!

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐏𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 | 𝐂𝐚𝐬𝐞𝐲 𝐌𝐜𝐐𝐮𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐧 | 𝟑*

𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐓𝐨 𝐄𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭:
⟡ LGBTQ+ romance
⟡ Non-binary MC
⟡ Told in two halves
⟡ European food and wine tour
⟡ Childhood best friends to lovers to exes
⟡ Second chance romance
⟡ Miscommunication trope
⟡ A sex competition 😩😂

𝐓𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬:
Um. Wow. 😂

What I love about CM romances is that her characters invest so fully in their love interests, their emotionally vulnerable and yet heart-eyed descriptions of each other genuinely make me yearn for the same experiences and usually endears me to the characters.

But the best way I can describe this book is an adventurous bisexual bonk-fest that is defiant of traditional gender ideals. The writing is as gorgeous as ever, full of poignancy, completely beguiling and with sparks of humour to finish a prose that is captivating. I’ve also never craved wine and pastries so much whilst reading a book before. However, I had some issues which tapered my enjoyment.

The two main characters, Theo and Kit, oscillate ridiculously from anguish to arousal constantly. This is encouraged by an entire character cast that is perpetually horny. The characters would visit a European setting, describe the food and drink in wonderful in-depth ways, then go and have sex with other people, each other, and sometimes each other AND other people. All whilst mutually pining for the other.

I felt that 1. Somebody needed to throw a bucket of cold water over the two. 2. I found it hard to feel the chemistry between Theo and Kit when they’re giving all this passion away to every single person they meet on tour. I actually kind of wish the main romantic pairing was platonic which is never good to wish for in a romance.

The story was really repetitive. Visit somewhere - eat good food - drink good wine - bonk everyone - move on. It was also so much more explicit than I expected. I typically love steamy romance but even I draw the line at licking buttholes 😂. This is the kind of filthy romance that makes me feel like I’ll never be clean again.

𝐅𝐚𝐯𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐐𝐮𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐬:
𝘐 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘬𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘫𝘢𝘸 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘮𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘶𝘮𝘣 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘮𝘺𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘪𝘵’𝘴 𝘰𝘬𝘢𝘺 𝘪𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘰𝘯𝘦-𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨. 𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘢 𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵. 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘧 𝘪𝘵’𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵, 𝘐’𝘭𝘭 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘢 𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘰𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘭𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘵𝘩. 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘰.
𝘙𝘪𝘭𝘬𝘦 𝘸𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘦, “𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘐 𝘬𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘮𝘺 𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘭 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘰𝘶𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴?”

“𝘐𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘮𝘺 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵. 𝘐𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘭𝘦𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘪𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘪𝘧 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘬𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘪𝘵.”

If there's two things a book should be, it's horny and queer. And this book was definitely that.

I ended up really enjoying this one. It's not going to work for everybody - It's frankly pretentious and with not that much plot. But for me that's sort of the point (and, let's all be real. RWARB was also pretty pretentious. Sometimes it's fun, ok!) It's supposed to be indulgent and decadent and sexy. It's very much a summer book.

I liked Theo a lot as a character. I think their struggles did come across as very real. I felt like I was waiting for them to have the discussion about their pronouns, simply so the reader knew how to feel about the pronouns others used for them, but I understand why that discussion came when it did. I really like Kit's reaction to it and it really made sense for the characters. I liked Kit as well, though he's very much the archetype of 'boy who you would fall in love with', and his half of the novel was a little bit slower. To be totally honest this could have been 50 pages shorter, and the pining got a bit much in the end.

But all in all I thought this was dreamy and romantic. Casey is so good at writing these very particular type of characters. The characters are the romance. The setting is the romance. Like I said, not much happens. But the journey the characters go on is worth it. This is one of those books where you're either going to Get it or you're not.

Please Note - I will not share public reviews until the conclusion of the SMP Marketing Boycott

I realised pretty quickly into this book that it was not for me. Whilst the writing itself is fine, this book lacked the charm and fun I have always found from Casey McQuiston's books.

The MCs just didn't have the level of trust of the dynamic for me to ever find myself fully rooting for them or truly believing they would work in the long run. This books just unfortunately lacked the chemistry that CMQ has always provided for me and unfortunately, this was a miss.

Nonetheless, I enjoyed large portions of the history between the MCs and setting - so whilst this story may not be fore me, I do believe this could be a 5-star read for the right audience.

Thank you for the e-ARC

Thank you to Macmillan and NetGalley for the ARC.

Dionysus ghost writes now?

This is pure hedonism, following two best friends/exes as they accidentally reunite on a food and wine tour of France, Spain, and Italy. They have a lot of sex (not necessarily with each other), eat a lot of food, and drink a lot of wine. This is also the miscommunication trope on steroids, so be warned.

I've read two McQuinston books before this one, and I can see either their writing improving or their acceptance of using AI as a writing tool. I loved the humour, and the vivid descriptions of all the towns, the sights, the food, the drinks, even the descriptions of people I really enjoyed. It was detailed and yet unique in it's metaphors. I liked the split POV literally being split down the middle. I learned a lot, and am now very sad I can't go on the same tour.

As with the other two books, I do feel like The Pairing could have been 50-100 pages shorter. I'm interested to know how long the first draft was, if the final is 400+ pages (my page goal for the year isn't complaining, though). And I'm sorry, I'm so so sorry, but I do not like Kit or Theo. They are both self-righteous and whiny and pretentious, even after their "growth", and I'm not sure McQuinston can see that. Also, the side characters felt a bit caricaturistic, a bit too oversaturated and fake. I saw another review naming it all as vapid, and unfortunately I do agree.

Overall I did like The Pairing, but I didn't love it. If you're dreaming of a Southern European holiday, or are an especially horny polyamorous pansexual slightly alcoholic foodie, you may enjoy it a hell of a lot more.

3.5/5

This book is one massive tease in the best possible way - it's like a feast for the senses, with vivid descriptions of stunning architecture, decandent foods, delicious drinks, and so much horniness and angst. The format is different to Casey's other books, but it really works to get the story across in the most impactful way. The representation is on point without ever feeling preachy, and both main characters are extremely lovable. Kind of hoping for another book set in the same universe, because some of the supporting cast were 👌🏻✨️ as well.

Thank you to NetGalley and Pan Macmillan for proving this ARC for me to review.

The Pairing is one of those books that drags you in quickly and devours you. When I started reading it, I quickly grew to enjoy Theo’s narration, their exploration of the four years since they last saw Kit and how different they are now. Theo is a character who I could relate to a lot, their half of the book was fun to pick apart as you watch them come to terms with how they feel and felt about Kit.

When we then get to explore Kit’s side of the narrative, I fell deeper in love with these two. From the Rilke quotes to the discussions of food and wine across Europe acting as a catalyst for so many changes. I really enjoyed the pacing of this book as well as the characterisation of both protagonists, and how they developed and grew over the narrative.

I will say that I would have loved there to be something bigger at the emotional climax of the book, it either needed to be less stretched and thinned out or just bigger to give a greater impact to the reader.

Overall, I deeply loved this book and it has cemented my enthusiasm for Casey McQuiston’s writing and can’t wait for this book to be out in the world to see other people enjoy it as much as I did.